


Celebramus Vitam

by Aibhilin



Series: A story is what you make of it [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bittersweet Birthdays, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Didn't think it would be but so far it actually is Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Gonna do the 24-day-challenge again, Hurt/Comfort, I feel like there ought to be a warning for the previous tag - the chapters are really really short, I'll be surprised if I make it but we'll see, Let's see where it'll take me this time shall we, Longing, Nostalgia, Not Beta Read, Not one coherent story but a collection of oneshots, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Panic Attacks, Rather Sad actually, Reactions to aforementioned Death(s), Short Chapters, The Content is not all that Funny to be honest, am making stuff up as I go, as needed, but goddamn the research that went into this, woah, ye've been warned, yup the birthday dates are accurate or at least as accurate as I can make them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 16,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22510027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: A Celebration of Life is… a collection of birthday oneshots.Happy or not, birthdays are something we all share. And they are way better if we celebrate them together, aren’t they? Be sure to bring your party hat, a parcel with a bow and settle down with a nice cuppa cocoa, dear gents and ladies.Enjoy!
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Monkey D. Luffy, Fushicho Marco | Phoenix Marco/Whitebeard Pirates, Gol D. Roger/Portgas D. Rouge, Makino & Monkey D. Luffy, Makino & Portgas D. Ace, Makino & Sabo (One Piece), Masked Deuce & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Garp & Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Garp & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Garp & Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy & Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy & Silvers Rayleigh, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates
Series: A story is what you make of it [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608901
Comments: 44
Kudos: 59





	1. Rouge

**Author's Note:**

> I'll only write 1 A4 page per chapter. Sorry but I can't cram in more than that into my schedule, currently. I might expand on those 1-page-chapters later, though. :) Have fun reading!

The rocking chair creaked comfortingly, in the quiet of her home.

Just the day before, she’d been outside on the cliffs, watching the marine ship, clutching the newspaper with the damnable picture in it, not budging an inch as the love of her life was confirmed dead and the marines on the lookout for his offspring.

She was alone now, wasn’t she? No more Roger, no more celebrating things together. It’d be Roger’s birthday today. And tomorrow, the start of a new year without the legendary King of the Pirates.

He’d been a legend, alright. In the end, the Pirate King’s execution had spawned inspired pirates flooding the Blues and soon, very soon, the Grand Line on their way towards Raftel. Laugh Tale. Whatever it was called, wherever it was located, Rouge didn’t care.

The rocking chair moved back and forth, creak-creak, in a steady rhythm.

Soon, it would be Rouge’s first birthday without Roger. But with his child, instead. Caressingly, she moved her hand over her belly. Not yet, it would be too soon if the baby was seen on her body. Not yet. In these moments, she swore she could feel some force within her helping her thoughts and slowing the baby’s development by quite a bit. Every bit counted.

She was nine months pregnant by now and no bulge showed.

Rouge halted her rocking.

Searchingly, her hand dipped underneath the cushion she sat on, before carefully withdrawing her most cherished possession, a clipping of Roger’s that she’d tucked away in the seat of her rocking chair.

“A few more hours, love.” She murmured to herself, in the sudden stillness of the room.

“A few more hours, and a new year will begin. You’ve been dead for three months now. You won’t get to see it with me, love. Today is the first of a great many New Year’s Eves without you.” And when, in the unjudging presence of her immobile earthly possessions, a few tears escaped her eyes, no one noticed.

The marines in town had already started taking away pregnant women – be they wives, daughters or mothers was unimportant in the grand scheme of things – to god-knew-where and they were only bound to take more each week.

In the silence of her home, Rouge was wondering what would be left once the marines were gone from Baterilla. When would that be? Would her child be born by then? She hoped not, for that would most probably spell their death sentence – her best disguise techniques and forgeries would not hold up to this close a scrutiny.

No. Better be safe than sorry. Little Ann or Ace would have to hold out a bit longer than this if they wanted to live. Rouge wanted them to live.

No marine could dictate the death of one of her children if she had anything to say about that.

When morning came, she hadn’t slept a wink. Into the first rays of the New Year’s sun blessing her skin, she said, “It’d be better if they were born a year from now.”, unknowing it would come true and bring about her death as a direct result of her stubbornness.


	2. Luffy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first birthday as brothers, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! ^_^

It hadn’t been on their radar at all. Makino had come by for a visit. That was when she’d told them the details and that she wanted it to be a surprise for the young boy. Before that, neither Ace nor Sabo had been interested in celebrating Luffy’s birthday. Particularly, seeing as they hadn’t known when it was. Between the year before and then? Well, they were brothers now. Brothers ought to celebrate each other’s birthdays, right?

And, as the snow had thawed, spring had come and the animals were roaming the forest once more, it wasn’t like there was a lack of alligators to complain about. To be fair, Luffy’s favourite was by then known to everyone within earshot, willing listeners or not – he kept whining about wanting it often enough. The bigger problem came when they wanted to go hunt it. Without Luffy, that was.

For the younger of the three could be – on a scale of “annoying” to “enthusiastic” – pretty much anything. Detachable from their eyesight, however, he was not.

This endeavour was particularly hindered by Luffy’s perchant for trouble, to which they ought to be used by now, all considered.

Thus, when – by fortune or misfortune – Luffy got eaten by an alligator yet again, it really should have been expected. After Ace and Sabo freed the young troublemaker, they convinced him – barely, mind you – that Makino hadn’t had alligator in a while, most probably ( _how would they know, they hadn’t brought her any at all – but Luffy didn’t know, either, and that was what mattered right then_ ) and that they wanted to bring her some. As a present. That day was Bartender’s Day, wasn’t it? ( _Or was it children’s day? Eh, whatever. Luffy believed Sabo and Sabo had always been the one who could lie best out of the two of them_ )

So Sabo went down to Foosha Village with their catch ( _one whole alligator, “make sure Makino knows I helped catch it, okay, Sabo?”_ _Ace could swear the younger boy’s eyes were shining and his mouth was watering at the sight_ ) on the pretence of giving it to her to eat, while Ace had decided to indulge their youngest brother with his endless energy reserves and take him hunting for more.

Arriving in Foosha Village after having caught and eaten another one and a half boars (they were tagging the other half behind them for Sabo), dawn had taken over the landscape and the sun was making itself scarce already.

“Awww, you think Makino let him eat the alligator?”

“Nah, he probably got held up when Makino offered him a cuppa hot chocolate, the lazybum.”

“Makino’s hot chocolate _is_ good, though. You think she’ll give some to us, Ace?”

“Dunno. Probably. Or she’ll send us up the mountain again immediately. The sun’s going down, so she might get worried we won’t make it to the bandits before nightfall.” ( _Ace knew they wouldn’t, either way_ )

In front of Makino’s bar, Luffy knocked, loudly. No answer. Then the door opened inwards and lights exploded in front of their eyes.

“Happy Birthday, Luffy!” a chorus greeted them and put a satisfied smirk on Ace’s face.

The events that followed were these: a shouting and squealing Luffy could be seen attacking a roasted alligator with all his might, Sabo was standing besides the huge cake that the younger boy still inexplicably had space in his stomach for after the alligator, Dadan was conversing with Makino about a certain alligator recipe, lots of drinks were had and the celebration turned out great, indeed.

All in all, the first birthday that they celebrated together as brothers was a success, they felt.


	3. Ace and Sabo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo doesn't believe Ace. The first of January? Hah, yeah right. Way too convenient a birthday date, wasn't it? But until Garp visited them again, Ace didn't have more than his word to convince them (no one counted on Dadan's word to be anything but whatever she wanted it to be).

Oh, Sabo hadn’t believed it, at all, when Ace had told him. It hadn’t even been a joke! Was it _his_ fault that his birthday fell on the first of January? Certainly not! Just because he’d been kidding shortly before telling the blond that little tidbit did not mean it was wrong information!

But no, their middle brother had turned to denial all the way through December, only changing his mind slowly on the midway point to February where he came up with a frankly stupid decision, in Ace’s opinion.

“How about we celebrate our birthdays in February, together? I know you don’t like celebrating yours – and no, I still don’t believe you when you say it’s on January first, I want to hear shitty Grandpa’s opinion on that before I believe it – so why don’t we celebrate ours together? That way we both get a celebration and we don’t celebrate yours on your birthday!”

The “Wha?” that escaped him didn’t quite manage to express the whole of Ace’s feelings on the matter, to be all that honest.

“Well, my birthday’s on the 20th of March… how does the 20th of February sound to you?”

“Nah? What? Why would I need another birthday?”

“So we can celebrate it!”

Luffy’s huge, damnable puppy eyes did not help any and, well, it was a decided thing already without his consent, wasn’t it, way before he grudgingly agreed to it.

( _No, he did not care for cake any more than he did for presents_ )

( _Luffy did not get to open any of his, dammit_ )

( _Those were his and his alone_ )

The party was nice, in the end. There were presents for them both – Sabo’s held the party guests’ attention just as much as Ace’s did – and oh, there were guests! They celebrated at Makino’s ( _it was a_ Party bar. _‘nuff said_ ), so naturally, Makino was there, as was Mayor Woop Slap. Dadan didn’t want to come, she said, when Luffy invited her exuberantly ( _“And clean up after you again? Peh! I’d rather stay in the quiet of the hut than deal with you three on sugar!”_ ) but the mutt of hers accompanied them there in the afternoon and back to the mountain in the morning ( _they got to have a sleepover at Makino’s! Weeeeh!_ ).

A glance to his blond brother told Ace all there was to know. In a moment of inattention, Ace side-eyed Sabo, before muttering, heard by none but him, “You just wanted to celebrate your birthday twice, didn’t you?”

The innocent “Who, me?” expression his brother had perfected to an art by then did not fool Ace. A knowing glance was shot at them by Makino. Sighing, he resigned himself to celebrating his “birthday” with the blond at a pretend-fake-make-believe date from here on out.

He should have known.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coincidentally, I'm celebrating my own birthday for the third time this year, sometime this month :D (the party date's not clear yet, but I'm incredibly tempted to take the 20th now that Sabo did declare it his...)


	4. Ace

Ace’s real birthday came and went unnoticed. Three months it had been until they got reminded by Makino that birthdays were still something to be celebrated, regardless of the deaths of loved ones or not. (naturally, she phrased that particular truth a lot more diplomatically, but in the end, the result was the same)

January came and passed them by like a breeze. When the beginning of February rolled around, Luffy, face in a sad pout, tugged at Ace’s sleeve. “Can we still celebrate your birthday on the 20th, Ace? Like we did before?”

And in response, Ace, faced with the kicked-puppy eyes of a professional younger brother, – and with no defences left because he was the older brother, the only older brother that Luffy would forever have any more – could only nod.

Until they’d deemed it better not to say Sabo’s name any more, the fights had always ended in tears. Until they’d managed to keep from saying “Sss-“ when turning around asking for an absent third brother’s opinion on something or the other, it had become painful to argue much. And until then, they hadn’t been able to keep themselves from turning around whenever they were running through the forest to catch a glimpse, a glance of-

But now that a birthday was coming, they didn’t know what to do. It had been Sabo’s idea to celebrate Ace’s birthday in the first place, hadn’t it? Ace hadn’t wanted a part in that at all. Now that it was a tradition already, though, could they stop? Just like that? Sabo wouldn’t have wanted that.

( _He’d probably have wanted to celebrate even more birthdays now that he had a deathday too_ )

Thus, they gathered at Makino’s Party bar again. Ace got some presents, but this time there were none for Sabo. There were still guests – the same ones as at all their other birthdays, in fact – and they did still celebrate Ace’s birthday far later than it actually was.

When all was said and done, though, and they went back up Mount Corvo in the morning, they took a slight detour. (losing the dog was much, much easier than they’d thought it would be)

Coming to a halt in front of Sabo’s wooden cross of a grave, neither Ace nor Luffy spoke up.

“We miss you, Sabo!” Luffy burst out all of a sudden into the quiet of the sea breeze. His eyes were filling rapidly up with tears. “Wish- wish you were here!”

Ace snorted. “You’d have stolen all the attention again, wouldn’t you?” he told the grave, half-reprimanding, half-fondly. “Luffy ate the food Makino prepared, but I got the cake all for myself this time.” He would have given a lot to be able to fight over the right to be the first to eat said cake, this time. “Come on, Luffy. We’ve told him everything that happened. We’re leaving.”

Luffy’s head snapped up – Ace was happy sometimes that his younger brother was made of rubber because that fast a speed could not be healthy in a normal human being. “My birthday’s next! We’ll come back then, too, to tell you all about it!” His eyes glittered with determination, before he held his hat with both hands, turned around and ran back the way they’d come.  
  
Was he crying? Ace didn’t know. Looking towards the ground, Ace promised quietly, “You know, if you get two birthdays by celebrating mine with yours on a fake date, I get to have two from here on out, as well! Stupid glutton of a brother.” before he, too, turned tail and marched back to Dadan’s hut.

The fresh flowers decorating the gravesite moved a little in the wind before settling down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please correct me if I’m wrong, but as far as I know, Sabo died sometime in September?


	5. Ace and the Spades

Masked Deuce wasn’t the only one on the crew by then but he was the only one there to notice that Ace was behaving slightly… off – and it was telling when the First Mate noticed something bothering the captain after a bit over a month into their acquaintance.

Catching a moment alone with the fire logia on the railing, he chanced it. “What’s wrong, Ace?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” to his credit, the young captain only attempted the clueless façade briefly, before letting out a sigh. A brief moment of peace settled between them, before he went on to explain, “Today’s my birthday.” Deuce, eyes wide, immediately turned to face him. “I- It’s- We’ve always had that stupid tradition of celebrating it at Ma- a friend’s bar and then sleeping into the night. And in the morning we’d-“ he cut himself off forcefully, reminded of just whose presence he was in right then.

Disregarding the “we” and all the other questions that the teenager’s answer had thrown up rather than answered, Deuce straightfacedly said, “We need a musician.” Ace’s “Huh?” went ignored, as Deuce continued by shouting, turning on his foot and heading directly towards the galley where they knew most everyone else was at that time, “Guys, we need some music! A cake, and candles!”

Pausing in his tracks and making an about-face, he deemed Ace worthy of his time for all but half a minute, asking “Do you want anything as a present? Anything in particular?”

Needless to say, Ace was caught looking like a deer in the headlights by then, only getting out a “Bu-“ before he was steamrolled over by his First Mate’s ideas, “Another pirate crew to attack and loot might cheer you up, or a conveniently located marine ship?” Deuce went back to delegating tasks and requests again by heading into the galley by then. “Oi,-!” was all Ace could hear before the door shut on him.

His brain took about half a minute to reboot. Then, his eyes widened in recognition of what his crew ( _his crew! The Spades! With him as their captain! He couldn’t get over that yet, him having set off only a bit over a month and a half ago_ ) was about to do and on the other hand floored at the lengths they would go for him that he could only imagine just then.

“Oi, Deuce!” shouting accompanied his entrance into the galley.

And when, in the end, the party ended up including way more alcohol than they’d ever been allowed at Makino’s ( _it hadn’t ever stopped Ace from liberating some of Dadan’s for celebrating their birthdays when they realised adults added it to theirs, but Luffy didn’t like the stuff and someone_ had _to drink it_ ) and way more off-key singing and what sounded like overly loud snorkelling attempts on land and cackling and snickering and charade games galore, Ace didn’t mind.

The oldest brother hoped Sabo had a good birthday, wherever he was – and knew without a doubt that Luffy would take good care of the grave in Ace’s stead. A bit nostalgic, he wondered if Luffy celebrated their birthday too, back on Dawn, even though the two of them weren’t there. Two more years! Ace couldn’t wait until their brother set sail, himself!

“Hey, Sabo, have a good one, on me, yeah?” were his words, along with a quiet cheers and a reminiscent clinking of his cup against a random one he’d found and appropriated in the name of his late brother. Touching the tattooed crossed-out “S” on his left shoulder, he stared up at the stars as the party slowly dwindled to an end, with him in the middle.

He couldn’t help but feel content at his choices so far.


	6. Luffy, on Dawn

Ace had set out shortly after his birthday and Luffy couldn’t be happier for his brother. Truly, he couldn’t! It was a dream come true, and Ace was the first of the brothers to properly realise it! ( _Sabo didn’t count, his had been extraneous circumstances and besides, he’d been cheating anyways_ )

Yet, then February came, and Luffy did not know what to do. Should he celebrate Ace’s and Sabo’s birthday even though they weren’t present to do so? The decision was taken out of his hands when Makino simply suggested he do something nice, like sending out a wish to the waves for Ace and collect new flowers for Sabo’s grave.

After that, however, came Luffy’s birthday. For almost all of the past ten years, he’d never once had to celebrate it without at least one of his brothers by his side ( _he couldn’t remember how he’d celebrated it before meeting them, truth be told_ ). Waking up that day felt weird ( _There was no one there to wake him up_ ), training against the trees and monkeys and alligators felt lonely ( _the 100 daily matches were nowhere near challenging enough for him any more, not without his brothers there_ ) and venturing down to Foosha on his own was making him oddly antsy ( _no one to tell him that root there was tricky or that stone there wasn’t as steady as it seemed_ ).

He’d be 14 today, but strangely, he felt older. A frown graced his features more often than not that day and he couldn’t bring himself to fully enjoy the party that mayor Woop Slap and Makino had put together for him. ( _There was no one to steal food or cake from_ )

Setting out up to Sabo’s grave in the morning did little to alleviate his mood, and when he arrived, he sat down cross-legged in front of it.

“I wonder where Ace is by now.” Luffy told the breeze that played with his hair.

“I’m fourteen, Sabo! I’m older than you by now!” A mantra that he’d repeated for the last three years when Ace and he had paid visit to their brother’s gravesite.

“Ace has gone off to become a pirate! Just like we promised!” a brief bout of silence, then, “He set out on the first. I guess it did make sense he was telling the truth back then.” The teenager looked down at his lap, “I don’t mind you two having more than one birthday, you know? It’s more food and celebration for me, too.” His eyes came back up watery.

“I’m by myself now. Dadan’s happy Ace left – and she’s worried, yanno? ‘He’ll get into all sorts of trouble’, she said just yesterday, ‘hope he won’t mention us!” Snickering, Luffy relaxed his face from the stern facial imitation of Dadan’s he’d tried. “I’m curious when he’ll get a bounty – and what it’ll be. I’ll definitely surpass it, I promise you!” his hand was held to his heart in an expression of earnestness.

Luffy’s expression turned into one of sad remembrance. “You’d have started out by now, as well. Though Ace would say you did already – that’s cheating, though! We promised we’d do so at seventeen, not earlier!”

Leaves wavered in the light, warm wind that softly caressed Luffy’s hair and face.

“I brought you some flowers, again. I hope you’re having the bestest adventures that there are! Write them all down wherever you are right now, will you? So that you can read them to me and Ace once we’re there, too!” Tears streaming down his face, Luffy deposited the flowers, got up, turned around and quietly ambled towards their treehouse, shoulders and head hanging down – but only for that day. For that day, it was okay to be sad and happy and everything in-between.


	7. Luffy and Rayleigh

Training with Rayleigh was exhilarating, exhausting and frustrating. Sitting with him around the campfire, grilling some animal or another that they’d caught just that day, Luffy felt hungry beyond belief. He already knew that nothing they prepared would ever measure up to Sanji's cooking, but at this very moment, Luffy could have eaten the beast raw for all he cared.

The old man was sitting on a nearby rock, reading the newspaper that the News Coo had brought by earlier. Luffy was brought out of staring forlornly at the cooking meat by a random comment the bespectacled man uttered, “Ne, Luffy? When was your birthday, again? Wasn’t it in May?”

“Eh? 5th of May. Why?”

The old man closed his eyes, finding something humorous in the situation that escaped Luffy, “Because that’s tomorrow. Do you want us to do anything in particular apart from training?”

Last year, he’d set off on his birthday. The year before, they’d had a birthday party at the Party Bar. It wasn’t like he’d ever celebrated his birthday on the Grand Line before. But... this time, it’d be the first birthday he’d celebrate without either of his brothers anywhere in the world. Both had left his life far too early, far too soon.

It hit him, then. He’d never get to see Ace again. Sabo's death was like a wound that never closed, but Ace's was fresh in his memories, pressed upon his soul in ways he could never articulate. Luffy knew the way Ace died intimately, had felt the way his older brother’s body had slipped from his grasp with that ugly, huge, all-consuming hole in the middle of it. None of his own injuries had seemed quite as important, quite as disturbing as that fist's way through his brother’s body. His breathing picked up speed. Oh, he was shaking, when had he started doing that?

And then Rayleigh's calming presence was in front of him, counting to seven to help regulate his breaths. Luffy knew that spiel. He’d panicked, hadn’t he? That hadn’t happened since more than a month ago. Deeply, he consciously breathed in and out.

What had set him off this time? The thought that for the first time there’d be none of his brothers roaming the world while he celebrated his birthday? Tears came to his eyes. For the first time, he’d be all alone… no. Shaking his head, he did what he’d learned to do every time such thoughts threatened to overwhelm him during the past few months: he still had his crew. His nakama would be there, just a bit longer than a year from now, wasn’t it? He’d be reunited with them soon.

And while they wouldn’t be a substitute for his brothers – they couldn’t be, they wouldn’t ever even dare to try – they’d be there. They’d be there for him, just like Rayleigh was currently. Looking up with watery eyes, Luffy told the elder, “Let’s catch some alligators!” Disregarding completely that there mightn’t be any for them to find on this particular island, as Rayleigh’s eyebrows rose up and he tried to reason with the younger captain.

But that wasn’t important, not right then. Jumping up, Luffy declared the meat had finished roasting and tucked in heartily to Rayleigh’s continued surprise at the amount of food the teenager managed to devour in one single sitting.

He’d be 18 by tomorrow. Luffy would celebrate it the way he wanted to, brothers present or not!

… and if he cried a lot and ate a lot and talked Rayleigh’s ears off about the shenanigans he and his brothers had gotten up to together whenever one of their birthdays rolled around, that was his decision.


	8. Garp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garp receives presents, too. On a dare, for the most part, but he does.

The first time Garp received something for his birthday was when Ace was eight. It might have been on a dare or somesuch, but he couldn’t help but feel touched when he visited Dawn Island shortly after his 54th birthday and received a parcel, beautifully packaged curtesy of Makino, most probably. The inside revealed an atrociously coloured T-shirt that he took to wearing at every possible occasion he could think of (and a few others gave him the opportunity to, as well).

He didn’t know if it had been a group effort on the boys' part ( _most probably on Ace’s and Sabo’s, he figured_ ) and it didn’t matter. As a bit of a thanks he made sure to be a little bit gentler when handling their training that one time. In exchange, he might have gotten a tad enthusiastic with his Fist of Love. Eh, those three were hardy boys. They’d be alright.

The next time he got a present was on his visit after his next birthday. It seemed to have become a bit of a trend and he didn’t mind one bit. The garish trousers they’d bestowed unto him were promptly put on and shown off to everyone with a working pair of eyes. Indeed, he even got away with wearing them for the day of his arrival back at Marineford, to present it to Sengoku with all the smugness of a grandfather who’d gotten a present from his grandsons (plural!). ( _But only for that_ one _day, Garp, I am warning you-_ )

And then, Sabo had died. He’d heard from Dadan – oh, how could he not have? – when he’d called her on an off day to check in on the boys. The blond boy’s death had apparently quite shaken the other two, and understandably so. But they’d have to toughen up, Garp knew, for the world only held more and worse things in store for them.

A blink of an eye, and his birthday came and passed him by. Landing on Dawn two weeks afterwards ( _no he wasn’t keeping away from the boys on purpose, not at all, not even knowing Luffy’s birthday was close after his own and it’d be their first as two sworn brothers instead of three-_ ), he was surprised to find another parcel in front of him.

“From Ace” Dadan gruffly informed him, before leaving to get some alcohol to celebrate the occasion. Ah, so it had been Ace all along, had it? His eyesight grew a bit blurry around the edges. But he wasn’t made for careful – careful be damned! – and viciously tore through the wrapping paper, kindly having been provided by Makino, once more, he wagered. Getting to the content proved fairly easy, to be honest. It held a pair of sandals, the colours off and mismatched and weird altogether. His boys proved they had style, if not taste. Garp already knew where he’d flaunt them.

A few years later, a decade almost, and his boys had sailed off into the world, against everything he’d thrown at them – from insults towards the pirate occupation to threats to make them into marines himself if he had to. In his old age, he almost shed a tear out of pride for them. They’d proven fast just how headstrong they were – and the gifts Ace kept sending to him ( _not Luffy, never Luffy, his real grandson had the attention span of a biscuit for all that he prepared presents and thought of birthdays at all_ ) only grew in outrageousness.

And then Ace got himself caught and delivered to the marines.

The War of the Best was a punch to Garp’s stomach, literally if not figuratively.

He’d have done anything to keep out of it and not do so at the same time. When he’d lost the one he’d considered a grandson in all but blood, it felt like a big part of his heart had been torn out and he ‘d wailed and grieved in his own manner, alone and left forgotten on an island away from military eyes. Garp hadn’t thought any grandson of his would condone his behaviour from back then.

Almost three quarters of a year after that, on the 2nd of May exactly, a present appeared on his desk.


	9. Sabo and the Revolutionaries

He wasn’t sure why but two things he’d always – from the start – been certain about. That his name was Sabo and that he didn’t want to go back to Goa Kingdom, the place where the Revolutionaries that had picked him up suspected he came from. Heeding his wishes, he’d been accepted into their folds easily enough. He trained with them, he ate in their dining hall and he slept in the bunk bed they’d provided him with. Nonetheless, something was missing, and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what.

Sabo was fed, clothed and had a roof over his head, what more could he ask for? “Family”, his treacherous brain replied, unasked, whenever the question crossed his mind. But “family” was a tangled ball of yarn inside his mind that he couldn’t hope to detangle on his own anytime soon. There was that almost-expected feeling of “no, nope, not going back there again!” attached to some strings, where he most certainly knew that whatever had happened had not been in any way good for him.

And then there were some, rare and single, strings of yearning attached to the ball of yarn, too. It was a kind of longing that he had no idea how to make heads nor tails of. If he had to describe it, he’d put it under a “yearning without any specific goal”. It drove him mad more times than it calmed him, to be honest.

His newest family was something to be proud of, though. They lived together, they breathed together and they celebrated together. Birthdays were something the Revolutionaries made a point to celebrate, if you were an amnesiac who didn’t remember their family or not – and they tried particularly hard for the kid members of the fraction. Nonetheless, no one could tell him when his own was, could they? Well, his birthday was on the 20th, that he was a hundred percent certain about.

But was it in March or in February...? Funnily enough, when he tried to find an answer, he was always left with the feeling that both dates were technically correct. That couldn’t be true, though, could it? Who’d celebrate their birthday twice? … on the other hand, that prospect didn’t seem too bad. Suggesting it to Koala only brought him a slight headache as she hit him over the head for such a silly idea. But now that he had thought of it, the notion remained stuck in his head.

So, what happened in the end was a string of events that led to most believing that Sabo simply decided to celebrate his being found by the Revolutionaries a month before his birthday. It didn’t matter in the end if the dates were slightly closer together or even that both were further towards the start of the year than the Revolutionaries had thought they were. No, no, that was aaaall true. From a certain perspective, at least. If you squinted. And looked through a kaleidoscope. Oooooh, shiny colours, aren’t they more ~~distracting~~ interesting than the date of a stupid birthday of one of our members?

The celebration was nice. Sabo got a cake – twice a year! – and small presents. He didn’t mind that he’d not managed to fool Dragon. Or Koala. Or Hack. It all played out in his favour, in the end.

And the itch that he couldn’t scratch away all through the party they had? The one that made him look all around him searchingly, though for what or whom he couldn’t say? Sabo would let a doctor have a look at that one, should it still be there the next day ( _he knew it wouldn’t be_ ).

While at the doctor’s, he’d mention the smell of burnt alligator, as well, he decided. He’d had that in his nose all day, after all, and everyone knew there were no alligators anywhere close to Baltigo.


	10. Sabo and the graves

One of the rare times that Sabo visited Ace's grave was on the first of January of every year. The tradition started shortly after his sworn brother from way back when had died and he hadn’t had the heart to stop anytime soon on the Januaries thereafter. With the War of the Best half a year in the past, Sabo dared show his face again in front of his sworn brother’s grave for the second time after he’d come to find out it was true – that his brother had really died in that blasted war back then, and he hadn’t been able to do anything because of his stupid amnesia.

Bittersweet an occasion that it was, he hadn’t failed to bring three well-worn red cups and a sake bottle with him, along with a present – wrapped with a bow and everything, it rested in his left hand, held up as though he’d wanted to present it to nobility. Halting a few steps away from the graves, his faithful top hat managed to hide them from his eyes for a single moment of denial, before his head bravely lifted, letting them come into his sight and filling his heart with a heaviness that settled like an old comrade.

He’d been prepared for that, though, for in the last half year he’d had multiple occasions where he’d find himself comparing his own accomplishments to any of Ace’s that he could get his fingers on. Every time, he’d then come to the realisation that he’d no longer get to compete with Ace, no matter if his heart hoped differently.

Sabo’d wake up from dreams filled with adrenaline, needing to check if Ace was said to have been able to jump as high as that any more or if Ace was said to have been as much of an instigator of fights as he remembered. He’d hunted down – with tremendous interest and hunger for more knowledge – every single thing the Revolutionaries had managed to scrounge up about the Whitebeards’ Second Division Commander, just to see if the Ace from nigh a year ago could be compared to the mental picture he had of him.

The fact that after Ace had died, Luffy had gone and quite literally disappeared from the world had made him feel as though the ground had fallen out from underneath his feet. Both of the only brothers that he’d known and acknowledged – gone from his life, seemingly forever. He couldn’t help the shudder that went through him at the prospect of a future without them, even if he’d managed to live out the past ten years (oh gods, had it already been ten years by then? Ten years.) without them – when he hadn’t even been able to remember a thing about their time together!

“Hello, Ace. Whitebeard.” Almost an after-thought, he inclined his head towards the bigger of the two gravestones briefly in acknowledgement. That had been the one Ace had called “Oyaji”, and willingly, at that. He deserved his respect, for that alone. “I brought the sake again, this time. Dunno where Luffy is – but I’m sure he’s chaos personified for whomever is with him, currently.” Or, he hoped so, gods, he dearly hoped so. “Energetic as he is, he’ll need a caretaker. I’m sure his crew thought of one to give him to keep him in line, these days.” And it was telling that not even the Revolutionaries had found out where the Strawhats had gone, at all. Not a whisper, no news.

Swallowing heavily, Sabo took that to mean that Luffy was still up and kicking, wherever he was. He’d done that every time he thought of their youngest brother in the last half year.

“I’m gonna be twenty-one this year, Ace. Who’s the older one now, of the two of us?” Oh, how much he didn’t want to be. A quirk of his lips, an almost-there smile, before it settled into something fond, “Guess I’ll have to be the one to take care of Luffy now, huh? Once I can find him, that is.”

Nimble hands, clothed in white gloves, poured the sake into the three cups. “Cheers, Ace! Happy Birthday. And a happy new year, too! Cheers, Luffy, wherever you are right now! I’ll come and meet you as soon as I know where!” The atrociously coloured cowboy hat drifting in the breeze was his only answer.


	11. Marco and the Whitebeards

The Whitebeards had lost a lot at the War of the Best. On the Mini Moby, Marco was pouring over documents, figuring out winds and streams and the appropriate calculations. They wanted to make Blackbeard pay, but it would still take a little while until they could gather their resources and allies and get to do an all-out attack. Not that it helped that the traitor had the devil’s luck in hiding from them. Closing his eyes in resignation at having no one like Oyaji around any more to bounce ideas off of and get scolded for getting ahead of himself and possibly leading his remaining siblings into a war that they couldn’t afford to lose, Marco put down his glasses and then his head into his hands.

How far ago seemed the moment where, just last year, Thatch had joked around with Ace at the railing and made meals that were feasts for the eyes and the mouths and been alive to call even Marco names that he just knew all his brothers would emulate from then on. The pineapple jokes had been grating on his nerves, but oh, how he wished the chef was there to make them still.

And Ace… their fiery brother shouldn’t have been allowed to chase the traitor like that. It wasn’t the first time that the First Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates regretted past choices and it wouldn’t be the last. They’d lost too many, they’d lost way too many good souls in that blasted war.

Deciding he needed a change of air, he stood up from his chair, gathered the documents and put them aside for now, headed to the door and opened it. Stepping outside, he was met with laughter – and was promptly transported back onto the deck of the Moby Dick, where he could remember hearing that particular laugh last, surrounded by the ocean breeze and Thatch and Oyaji-

His mind brought him out of the past soon enough, as a body stormed past – one of Rakuyo’s division, wasn’t it? –, another one halting just before barrelling into him. An eyebrow rose at the unusually reckless behaviour of the two, prompting an answer without him saying anything. “Ah, Commander Marco! We were just on our way to the galley! Want to join us? Some of the chefs have decided that Commander Tha-ah- that the birthday tradition was going to be continued! There’s cake and everything!” The accompanying grin was, quite honestly, a refreshing thing to witness.

Marco knew about the “birthday tradition”, as the divisions had dubbed it quite some time ago. Seeing as there were so many of them, it had been decided long ago that they’d do one birthday party per month to celebrate together. Said birthday parties tended to degenerate into loud and rambunctious feasts where the chefs regularly outdid themselves, with drinking games etc. Naturally, the Division Commanders’ birthdays and the captain’s were celebrated apart from the others’, so sometimes there could be up to three birthday parties held per month.

Those were… celebrations, something to look forward to, in bleak times as in happy ones. Marco hadn’t known how much he’d needed a pick-me-up until he’d entered the galley. His mood lifting considerably at the antics of some of his brothers, he sidled up to Vista, who was enjoying a beer off to the side of the controlled chaos. A member of the former Fourth Division passed by and pressed a mug filled with an undiscernible substance into his hands. Ale, most probably, judging by the smell.

“Cheers.” Vista held his beer up to be clunked against and Marco answered in kind, “Cheers.”

“This has been going on for the better part of the last half hour by now. Think they’ll move out the cake sometime soon?” a comment from a passing pirate drew his attention for the blink of an eye. The kitchen entrance wasn’t far away from their position and they could see the cooks scuttling about here and there, preparing things for the hungry and expectant pirates. He sat back to watch.

They had all needed that, this brief moment of respite in-between the aftermath of one war and the preparation of another. “Happy birthday.” Marco said to no one in particular, raising his mug.


	12. Luffy and the Strawhats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Zoro is just too easy to insult...  
> Enjoy~

“When’s your birthday, shitty captain?” the chef had ventured outside in the evening hours to ask.

The “Ah?” that he got back as an answer was eloquent as it probably should have been expected.

“Your birthday. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. It’s just that I’ve been wondering. I know the birthdays of a majority of the crew by now even though we haven’t been together all that long. And I know a few of them would definitely be up for a birthday party at their birthday. So I was just”, a shrug, “thinking you might like one too.” What with his captain’s preference for fun times and trouble? Sanji had practically been a hundred per cent certain without checking, until he’d realised he didn’t even know the energetic teenager’s birthday date.

Shaking his head, the black-haired rubberman huffed out a drawn-out “Naahaaa.” Opening his eyes to fixate his chef, he went on to say, “it’s just that it’ll be a while until then. It’s on the 5th of May.”

That… had been almost too easy. Shrugging, Sanji thanked his captain and went on his way. Making a note of it on the calendar he’d installed for just such a purpose in the kitchen of the Going Merry, the chef then proceeded to relegate his thoughts to making dinner.

It wouldn’t have been such a problem at all that it had still been a while until then, had it not been for the fact that during their miscellaneous adventures, they’d simply not counted on being separated for any length of time. But their captain was selfish and greedy and probably all sorts of hung up about his brother’s death by the time that Sanji unearthed the birthday calendar from his kitchen on the Thousand Sunny that he wouldn’t have had the heart to celebrate anyone’s birthday at the beginning of their second journey. It helped that the first birthday to remember would only be that damn marimo’s… and he was prepared do anything to rile up the stuck-up swordsman.

Sanji knew that their captain had celebrated his birthday with his fiery brother far more often than with his crew by then, but he wanted to make it special for Luffy, all the same, once it was his turn. He didn’t want to replace the brother – no one wanted that – but it was possible that memories would be brought up during the endeavour. They would let their captain be, in that case, and get him back to the party once he was back to normal again.

Naturally, the whole crew helped. Nami found them a nice small chain of islands to explore ( _no volcanoes on that one, right? Right? Ooooh, my don’t-leave-the-ship-sickness is rising to the fore, I can feel it taking over my body-_ ), Usopp, the useless swordguy and Chopper accompanied their captain and Sanji prepared a birthday cake that would surpass any he’d made so far.

Robin aided tenfold with the decorations, while Franky did all in his might to rig the Super Show that’d be “the highlight of the evening”, according to him. Brook quietly went over a myriad of renditions of Happy Birthday that he knew, prepping his multitude of instruments for a most marvellous accompaniment and Nami prepared a fake treasure map they would use the next day to entertain their captain. She was sure Sanji or Usopp could be persuaded to hide a multitude of items that would function as “treasures” for the treasure hunt.

The chain of events that followed was along these lines: once Luffy came aboard the ship, he was welcomed with a huge “Happy Birthday” from his crew and a grandiose view of the monstrous chocolate meat cake that was sure to keep him fed for at least an hour. He got presents, of course he did, and when he had a particular reaction towards a telescope that Nami had thought to buy him (she’d thought he would use it like a kaleidoscope more than anything else), no one bat an eye and the others simply turned towards one another for conversation. After all, birthdays were to be celebrated, in any manner that the main person of the event wanted them to be.


	13. Nami and Luffy

It was a quiet kind of ritual by the time it was happening on the Thousand Sunny. She hadn’t had the opportunity to make much of it at all, before the crew had been separated, mostly because the birthday she was celebrating hadn’t been anywhere near yet. And she hadn’t properly celebrated it at all while training on that cloud with the old geezers.

( _In truth, maybe she had kind of pushed the date away for a bit, off to the side, where she couldn’t see it that often any more_ )

( _Her mother wouldn’t be mad at her for not remembering to do the birthday ritual as she’d taught it to them_ )

( _Belle-mère had been dead for longer than she’d been in her life by then, anyways_ )

Maybe, just maybe, Nami was still missing her adoptive mother more than words could say. Her death day had been ten years ago – eight years of uncertainty, half a year of getting to know Luffy and his band of hooligans, of going places that no one in her village had ever seen, of adventures that no one could dream up they were that crazy… and then two years of separation from her nakama that taught her to rely on herself more than the eight years before knowing them ever had.

Ten years of her life, lived without her adoptive mother to come back to.

In the end, her little ritual hadn’t ever been a regular thing that she did. She made space for it whenever she could, wherever it was possible to do so, but it had not once been celebrated for two years in a row. Mayhaps she could start a new tradition on their new ship. After all, it was supposed to be their home now, wasn’t it?

“What’cha doing there, Nami?” gnawing the meat off a bone, Luffy got down beside her in the snow that had accumulated on deck, sandals crunching his foot imprints into it. The idiot hadn’t thought to bring more than a jacket again, had he? Stupid dumbass was going to get a cold at this rate…

Not looking up from the small accumulation of items in front of her – three small candles arranged in a triangle formation, a tangerine and a Beli in the middle – she kept quiet. Oh, were those tears that were falling down her cheeks and landing in the snow in front of her hers?

A hand covered by a thick mitten came to rest against her right cheek, tenderly, carefully, wiping the tear track away a little bit. Her captain had always known when keeping quiet was more appropriate, no matter what she said to the contrary. From the beginning, he’d been more attuned to the crews’ feelings than they could have anticipated he’d be. Endearing a trait that it was, no one could think to escape the draw that Luffy presented – like moths to a flame, they gathered around him.

“Just a- just a little birthday celebration, Luffy.” She said in lieu of anything else she could have.

“Whose?” came the prompt question. Ever-curious, that one. She wouldn’t trade him for the world.

“Bell-mère’s.” Feeling the need to elaborate, to justify, she went on to say, “I know it’s not her deathday, but I don’t think she’d have wanted us to celebrate her deathday, at all, anyways. I’d rather celebrate her birthday than anything else in memory of her.” Nojiko had always, from the start, celebrated both, in the quiet, small house up on top of the tangerine groves.

Luffy’s face remained impassive for another moment, before a smile took it over. “Alright. Let’s celebrate her birthday, then!” She regarded him for a minute in silence, before she showed him what to do, in that little ritual of hers. The snow proved a silent backdrop to their voices when they rung out into the void of the sea, saying “Happy Birthday, Bell-mère!”


	14. Sabo and the Strawhats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An older brother hopes to meet a deadline and arrive on time :)

“Dammit! C’mon! Faster!” the blond muttered under his breath as the steam motor he’d rigged up to his boat droned in the background. His hand was stuck in the engine, powering it with his Devil Fruit like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately for him, the motor had a limit on just how fast it was supposed to go – and he’d managed to go above that one by far too much already. Sabo knew he’d need to let it rest for quite a bit once he was there, but he wouldn’t – couldn’t miss the event he was powering towards at speeds that probably weren’t healthy for his still-recovering body.

The sun was setting already. It was nearing the end of the day. Another curse escaped him, before his eyes set upon his goal, a dark speck in the distance, with the sun’s colours lighting up the sea around it. Unmistakeably, that had to be his brother’s ship. Nigh unconsciously, with the goal in sight, he slowed the boat a tad as he powered down his Fruit’s help with the journey, giving the motor a bit of leeway. He might have overdone it this time, he thought, as he regarded the engine critically. Steam was coming out of every open crevice, the creatively enhanced device not used to such abuse. Eh, as long as it’d still work for a little bit after he left Luffy, it’d be fine. He still had the sails and if worst came to worst the rudders as backup, after all.

Checking on his possessions with a quick glance, he ascertained that everything was where he’d put it and in the previous state of being, as well. Good. Wouldn’t do to lose anything, now.

The engine roared suspiciously for a second – making him scrutinize it with narrowed eyes – before silencing and continuously bringing him closer to the pirate ship. Nothing out of the ordinary, then. Letting his shoulders relax, the blond let the motor puff out when he was a hundred meters away, the boat gliding over the waves for the last bit with the rest of the speed it had accumulated already.

“HEEEEEEEEY!” the shouting reached him, having been going on for a while, it seemed. He smiled.

Pulling his hat and bowing, he asked, politeness personified, “Permission to come aboard?”

Luffy’s hand appeared in front of his body once he looked up again. Knowing the spiel well, he shook it and held on for dear life as he was drawn on board, and fast. Predictably, they landed in a heap on the floor, tangled beyond belief because Luffy’s limbs sometimes just went nowhere in particular, especially when the rubber man was excited. Pushing a wayward arm up out of his face, he could see an army of candles on an enormous cake that was towering above a table on his right, lights and lit-up balloons all around, decorations hanging from every surface that was anywhere near grabbable (with Luffy as their captain? It was a wonder there was any surface left that wasn’t filled with ornate colours and lights). Gracefully, he gathered himself before he stood up from the floor.

“Sabo-san, welcome!” “We’re glad you could make it.” two of his brother’s crewmates spoke one over the other. Meanwhile, Luffy was laughing in the background. His little brother had found a playmate in the fluffball that was his doctor and they were rolling around on the floor a bit apart of the festivities. Probably a sensible decision on the part of their navigator. Sabo saw her side-eyeing the two with an approving look on her face, before turning to him. “Would you like some cake?”

His posture relaxed minutely, as he took in the chaos that was his little brother’s birthday party on the sea. Funny, it reminded him of Makino-san’s efforts when they had been younger. There were the candles, the presents, the table, the guests, the atmosphere…

When all was said and done and the lights were dimmed considerably in the early night sky, Luffy brought out three familiar cups and a bottle. The two of them, surrounded by quiet conversations and his brother’s nakama leaving them the privacy they desired, drunk to their bond, two instead of three brothers reunited to celebrate a birthday, with Ace watching them from above.


	15. Going Merry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is one month into their career as a proper pirate crew with a sturdy ship underneath their feet... and a certain caravel has to be acknowledged in providing said job of making them one, ne? :)

Logue Town – the town of the beginning and the end of an era – was just a speck in the distance, growing smaller and smaller with every meter that the Going Merry moved ahead, towards new sights and adventures. Thankfully, the wind seemed to be in their favour, as were the streams.

Their next goal would be Reverse Mountain, the entrance to the Grand Line.

Usopp’s “I-can’t-leave-the-Blues-illness” aside, their casting off from Logue Town proved to be a good omen about the start into their career as Grand Line Pirates. One of these days, this crew was going to give him a heart attack, wasn’t it? Touching the wood of the main mast tenderly, the sniper-part-time-turned-improvised-shipwright considered the month he’d spent with his nakama.

And it was a month already that had passed by then, wasn’t it? He paused in his musings, halting his thoughts. His brows furrowed. Mentally, he counted down the days, aided by the adventures they’d had on every single one of them. Yup. A month had passed. His eyes widened in realisation, before he turned around and headed off to the galley. Usopp had an important job to give to a certain cook of theirs… and then they had to celebrate.

For today was the first monthlyversary of the Going Merry as their faithful ship.

That was an occasion that had to be appropriately handled: he made Sanji bake a cake ( _with him as an assistant if necessary, goddammit Sanji, don’t just do nice things for the only girl on the crew_ ) and roped Nami into providing the necessary motivation for the cake to turn out better than “not half-bad” on the cook’s watch by having her anticipate the cake and its taste and tell Sanji exactly that.

( _It didn’t help that Usopp had to carefully walk over Zoro’s legs to get to the pantry for the ingredients, paying diligent attention to exactly where his feet landed, for those new swords were not for show, he knew – and he had no intention of finding out just how sharp they would turn out to be_ )

( _Or that, once Luffy had smelled something brewing in the kitchen, he’d come running and tried to taste-test before even so much as the batter was done and prepared_ )

( _Why was everyone in the kitchen, for heaven’s sake?!?_ )

Once all was said and done and the cake ready for consumption, all of them filed out of the kitchen, put a picnic blanket onto the main deck of their ship, close to the mast and with a wonderful view of everything around their current position and Usopp put the cake into their midst ( _forcefully fending off a certain greedy captain of theirs, with his foot if he had to resort to that_ ).

None of them knew how a ship’s monthlyversary was to be celebrated – or even, if an anniversary was possible with a ship like theirs on the Grand Line – but Usopp was adamant that the caravel, as their biggest unofficial crew member, had earned herself one, nonetheless.

As such, Usopp led the well-wishes, “Going Merry, thanks for having been with us for a month already! I hope we can spend a great many days with you still, sturdy wood and all.” The faces around him were smiling ones, Usopp thought he’d even been able to catch Nami in the act of wiping a stray tear out of her face – or was that a random spray of sea water that had gotten into her eye? – and they all appeared happy to participate in the celebration.

Glasses clunk together, cheers were spoken, and if, at the end of the day, Usopp thought he saw a little kid in a raincoat sitting on the main mast looking down at them joyfully, surrounded by a yellowish tint and seemingly glowing, a stark contrast to the sun and its colours that was setting in the distance, he wasn’t sure if that was his imagination simply going wild because of the special occasion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* another 24-day-challenge and another chapter that was written on the day it ought to be published. I really should get my stuff together one of these days and provide a buffer again by writing several chapters in advance... ah well.  
> As such, this chapter was written on the 16.02.2020, to a backdrop of 222 hits and 17 kudos on this story :D thanks, everyone, those're awesome numbers and I felt they deserved to be acknowledged. =^_^=  
> On top of that, with this chapter I've put online more than 40k words on AO3 alone O_o that's a lot of words, that is... *g*


	16. Usopp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little boy makes a wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another sad one. Enjoy?

A young boy was running through the village, flitting from one place to the next. Thinking about it, the inhabitants of that village couldn’t recall a moment where said boy had not been running like a whirlwind around the houses, through the fields and passing by everyone else. It was as though he’d been born with a surplus of energy, with a surplus of desire to not be late for – to not miss something important that was about to happen soon. When he streaked past them, the preferred answer was for people to simply shake their heads at his antics and go about their day as usual.

Especially because no one could take seriously his ramblings about invaders and pirates coming ashore to raid their little island in the middle of the most peaceful of all the four Blues anymore.

It was a testament to how used they were to his shenanigans and how lenient they were in view of his mother’s declining health that no one bat an eye at them these days. Let the boy run wild shouting lies to the sky – if it helped him cope with the inevitable, that was a tolerable solution.

That day, however, he wasn’t the only one playing pranks on unsuspecting victims or shouting lies to the heavens. Seeing as it was the first of April, the young boy was in good company, really.

For that young boy, however, that day may as well have brought the sky falling onto his head. It was the first of April, after all, and, thus, his seventh birthday, as well.

Other little boys had a cake and presents and candles to blow out and make a wish on.

Usopp had none of those things. Well, that wasn’t quite the truth, for he had a wish to make.

Arriving at the seaside where the sand met the bushes and trees and a wide way led down to the waves – his favourite side of the island –, he stopped, heavily breathing in and out. Running across the island like that had been a bit taxing on his young body, but he gathered himself quickly.

A continuous visitor to the rich mansion on that little hill a bit farther off, he’d not only entertained the young heiress himself, no. He’d learned quite a bit, too. From Kaya, he’d heard that you couldn’t only make a wish on candles that you blew out once a year – you could also wish on a flower.

Usopp had disregarded the exact way on how to perform said wish-making – particularly as Kaya hadn’t been able to provide specifics and hadn’t known where to look for them –, his mind had been utterly stuck on the idea that a flower might be able to grant him his. Oh, he agreed that it couldn’t be just about any flower that might do that, it had to be a pretty one with lots of petals.

Thus, he’d gone and looked for the perfect flower. Naturally, it had to be plucked on his birthday, for what other day was special enough to facilitate the wish-granting process? In his young mind’s eye, it was perfectly logical and he’d made sure to pick the most beautiful of the lot to offer to the wish-granting deities that were out there.

He didn’t believe in one single god, no (how could he, when his dad hadn’t come back and left them just like that? What god would do nothing in the face of such abandonment?), but he did believe in something that helped on journeys and granted wishes (he still prayed for his dad being safe and well wherever in the world he may be together with his mother every evening of every day – his feelings aside, he didn’t need to be angry at him all the time when his mum would rather he come back in one piece than not at all) (Usopp resented the fact that he had an inkling his dad wouldn’t).

So, holding up the flower – the mighty wish-granting one – Usopp shouted out as loudly as his lungs allowed him, “I wish for mum to get well soon!!!” and closed his eyes tightly before he threw the flower away into the waves, to be carried off where wish-granting flowers performed their miracles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another chapter written on the day it ought to be published. I can't help myself, it seems. As such, this one was written on the 17.02.2020. ^_^' Also, I managed to write 10k words on this story O_o what a monster, for such a tiny idea to have taken hold...


	17. Sanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cooks have a special occasion to prepare for... on short notice.

The proceedings went like this: he’d peel and cut onions, potatoes, tomatoes – everything that he’d be told to – and then prepare and arrange them around and within the dishes that the others were making. Then he’d clean the utensils and put them away or start anew. When he was done and had some time left to himself he’d gather up some of the leftover ingredients that the others hadn’t used and try to prepare a dish himself, with the old geezer correcting him whenever he happened to pass him by on his way to the other cooking assistants at the Baratie.

They’d opened the restaurant together with the treasure that Zeff had had sitting besides him on that island where- no. He really ought to stop thinking about that. His attention turned back to his hands which had stopped in the midst of peeling the potatoes. The blond settled back in to continue his cooking preparations, his eyes and focus fully on the activity, once more. Oh, he hadn’t failed to notice the eyes on his back the moment he stopped paying attention – the old geezer was sure to find something to comment about again soon, he knew – but he turned to ignore them for now.

They’d only become relevant once the old man decided he’d earned himself another bonk to the head ( _and those hurt,_ goddammit _!_ ).

Business was going well, they’d had to expand their little floating island called Baratie already by the time spring was nearing. Their reputation seemed to be growing and steadily attracting more and more customers to their location. Being busy wasn’t bad, per se, though Sanji could really do without the calendar on the wall reminding everyone of exactly what day it was and what day it would be once night had come and gone. Glancing at it every so often – all the more often the closer that day was approaching –, the blond wondered if he ought to tell the old chef.

Forcefully turning his head back to his dish preparation, he pouted. Nah. That geezer had been a pirate before, hadn’t he? He wouldn’t care about a measly little birthday like his. His shoulders tensed and rose upwards, so he stopped cutting the carrots ( _oh, he’d gotten himself some carrots to cut, when had he done that?_ ) before he could make a mistake that could cost him.

The eyes at his back never stopped observing the strange behaviour of the young charge that the old cook had picked up in the sea that day, all the more intensely when Sanji declared his dish done when he’d clearly only gotten to the half-way point of preparing it and went to his room in some kind of upset mood. Zeff wondered what was up with him, but for the moment put that out of his mind as he ordered his newly hired staff ( _they had two underlings now, two new cooks who were learning their craft from him and no time to waste with useless musings_ ) to “get to it, dammit! These dishes don’t wash themselves!”

Once all was said and done and Zeff retired to his own room (they had their separate rooms now, a far cry from a smooth-but-hard rock they’d shared not even half a year ago), he made sure to have a quick look into Sanji’s, as well. It was when he heard an almost-silent “Happy Birthday” being sung in a young boy’s voice, surrounded by tears and sniffles and sounding watery even from where he stood on the other side of the door, that Zeff understood.

The next day, the procedure went like this: a song was sung, candles were blown out and a cake was consumed. They’d had to ask Sanji what his actual age was now, but that was a minor detail in the grand scheme of things. The candles on the cake had formed the word “Sanji” and not paid homage to an unimportant number, after all, so it wasn’t as though anyone was embarrassed, no.

The hours of sleep that had been lost in preparation for the party ( _and it was a party, they’d even gone so far as to lock out the guests that had come knocking, citing a private engagement that had booked the venue, unfortunately, would the gentlemen and ladies like to reserve a table for the next day, perhaps?_ ) wouldn’t be mentioned to anyone by Zeff, that was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written on the 18.02. I'm not fast at learning that I really ought to create a buffer for my chapter-posting...


	18. Brook

His 90th birthday had been celebrated in a huge hall, with him playing his instruments and singing for an audience that was begging for more and crying out his name in a symphony of voices that resonated deeply with his bones and non-existent innards, Yohohoooo~

... it had been a grand celebration, and an empty one at that.

What had been missing he’d known he’d be able to make up for at this 91st, though, when he’d be with his nakama again. And oh, he had nakama to be with in the first place! Ones that weren’t reduced to shells of their former self, trapped within the confines of a magical Dial device where their tinny voices and last melody played in an endless loop of misery, desperation and, lately, newfound hope.

His crew – he had a crew again to call his own! – was comprised of individuals that were unique as they were endearing in their own way, every single one of them. Oh, he knew, he’d compose a song for them, to captivate the spirit of their journey together, adventures and all.

And when they met up again and were together, with each other again for the first time in what felt like forever, Brook just had to celebrate – with a huge concert that he’d be holding in the biggest hall of Sabaody! His exit out of there was way more spectacular than he’d thought it’d be, but ah well.

Such was the excitement of youth oh but he wasn’t young any more Yohohoooo~

His permanent grin was etched on his face by way of constantly exposed teeth. It expressed perfectly how he felt on board of the Thousand Sunny, once more with every single one of them, celebrating life as they saw fit. And a celebration it was! Time passed both slower and quicker than Brook could ever recall it taking and soon, soon March rolled around.

April first was their sniper’s birthday, wasn’t it? It said so on the calendar they had hung up in the kitchenette, with colourful smears surrounding Usopp’s name in twirly patterns ( _and how come the most artistic of the Strawhat crew had the weirdest noses_ Yohohoooo~ _?_ ). So Usopp’s birthday they did celebrate. Brook’s paled in comparison, didn’t it? His name had appeared on said calendar as soon as Sanji had thought to ask – and hadn’t that been a strange conversation to ask a walking talking and most importantly singing skeleton? Ever since, however, no one had mentioned it.

The second of April rolled around, with hangovers and hangover cures on the sides of their alcohol-inclined crewmates and the usual shenanigans to be had during the day for the others.

( _mayhap Brook was a bit more nervous about actually going about telling people it was his birthday next_ )

( _perhaps he didn’t say anything at all but play morose, indecisive songs all day long on his violin_ )

( _or listen to his ex-crewmates play Bink’s Sake on repeat in a quiet corner_ )

And then it was the second April’s sundown and night came. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Brook didn’t need to sleep as much as a literally dead body walking around, so he just settled in for a doze on deck of the Thousand Sunny.

What met his eyes the next day was much more than a baby blue sky with the sun hanging about.

His crew, his nakama, were lined up and greeted him with a “Happy Birthday”, Strawhat-Edition, sung with voices high and low, in a myriad of tone-deaf and perfectly-rendered notes and melodies all over the place. It was the most heartfelt thing Brook could remember anyone having done for him and he felt his heart burst out of his ribcage – if he actually had one, it would. Skull joke!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn am I glad to have already written tomorrow's chapter... now if only I could do the same for the chapters after that one, as well...  
> This one was written on the 19.02.2020 - the day on which it was to be put online, again. -_- it's a bad habit, that's what it is...


	19. Vice Admiral Jonathan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a mini-pastry (Sacher cake too!!!) with the image of a pirate on it today! :D

He was wondering if he ought to write a book. Sitting there, in his favourite spot at the rock outcrops close to the water, with the hook submerged in the marine base’s pool, he mused to himself that it might be good publicity. Or not, depending on how well received it’d be or how he’d portray the base. It might bring negative feedback from the higher-ups that they could do without.

Nonetheless, he could entertain the idea. Mayhaps he’d write it under a penname and use one of his many contacts to publish it anonymously. That had his moustache twitch in amusement as he pictured the faces the world government officials might sport at the report of one of the Strawhat’s many rumoured adventures being presented to the public in book-form. Then again, most of what had happened was classified by now, so an idea within the confines of his mind it would remain.

After their ship had catapulted out of the base, life had more or less returned to normal, with a few changes thrown in for good measure: the base’s marines weren’t as shy to intermingle as they’d been before and all of them had congratulated each other on a job well done, considering the hostage situation and their manner of handling it. Vice Admiral Jonathan’s gamble would have paid off, too, had that newbie not ruined his plans for catching the pirates with his reckless canon firing.

Fortunately, the money paying for repairs had come out of that visiting inspector’s pockets, after Jonathan had explained things to the higher-ups, with witness reports aplenty to base his facts on. Jonathan had to smile a little in remembrance of the chaos they’d wrought. Their captain was a wiry one, his stubbornness heralding the way he’d tread in future endeavours. He’d go far, that one.

Reeling the hook back in ( _no fish to catch tonight, eh? He’d have another opportunity tomorrow night that he would make sure not to miss_ ), he stood from his seat, stretching his legs and arms after remaining in the same position for so long. His long coat fluttered in the light breeze, grey until the sun would come up, the characters for “Absolute Justice” emblazoned in the material. The night sky was dark, his chosen point for fishing one of the quieter ones down in the wide port of the base.

A few stars shone, here and there in the sky, but there was supposed to be a new moon the day after tomorrow. Fortunately, he’d thought to bring a candle along with him, this time. Slowly, carefully, making his way back up to one of the many, many entrances into the base proper, he stopped after a few steps to regard the lit windows of the inner building, underneath of which the prison was located. There wasn’t ever a moment where there wasn’t a light lit, at this base.

The bridge had been rebuilt, a patrol walking over it at a steady pace, from what he could make out, their shadows thrown at their surroundings from the lights they held. The view from this far away yielded few insights, but he could connect the dots when he looked back up towards the left side, on the wall along which he slowly climbed up the stairs, where the kitchen and the dining room were. The cooks were already busy preparing breakfast and some of the menu that would be for lunch that day. He wondered what Jennifer would prepare for him, today. Certainly, it would be a special meal.

Truly, he didn’t mind the trouble the Strawhats had brought with them so much, in the grand scheme of things. Particularly not, when he considered what they’d left behind. Truly, that chef of theirs was a force to be reckoned with. Vice Admiral Jonathan was just glad that his wife had been nice enough to adopt some of the recipes, on his urging. Far be it for him to call pirates forces of good – but some of their talents really were wasted on them, should they ever be caught. The head of G-8 couldn’t wait to taste more of the delightful meals that the young cook had provided them with. Along with some of his own wife’s meals, naturally. But, oh, it wasn’t every day that it was his birthday, and he did ask Jessica to surprise him the day before… eh, she’d do her best and then celebrate his birthday with him. He’d be sure to tell his vice that he’d take a day off, for the occasion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was one of my favourite chapters - hope you enjoyed it, too! ^_^


	20. Shanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small detour to find the proper place for a celebration (one with alcohol, preferably) turns out to become so much more...

His crew was crazy, he knew. Oh, Shanks would be the first in line to confirm their level of crazy to any onlooker. But underneath that wild sailor exterior, they were also human and as such had, for the most part, simple human needs to satisfy. One such need that they’d discovered recently was the lack of a good sniper on their crew. Alright, so satisfying that particular need _had_ taken them on a slight detour from their usual routes in the New World to the East Blue where they’d followed rumours of a master sniper having ducked down and being on the low currently. But it had been worth it!

Their latest addition acquired, an island over they’d asked for a bar where they could properly celebrate and been pointed to a bigger island to the North of their position. Naturally, the trip there took almost all of the remainder of the time bridging the current date and his birthday, so Shanks would have even more reason to celebrate once there – and he wasn’t the only one anticipating a grand old feast with alcohol in spades…

What they hadn’t banked on was the… almost picturesque nature of their destination. Was that so-called Party Bar truly located in one of the sleepiest villages on this side of the Grand Line? Shanks blinked in bemusement as a cow mooed at him and his crew making their way through two houses on what was clearly a paved way of some sort. The ambiance was rather rural, all in all.

That was to say, the New World was rather dangerous – it was on the same scale and a huge understatement at that. Had that village taken a page from out of a kid’s picture book and designed their homes according to that, it wouldn’t have made for a quainter scenery. Shanks loved it.

Grin as big as a shark’s, he entered what seemed to be the only establishment meant for adults on this side of the village – and promptly halted in his tracks at the sight of a _boy_ at the counter.

Nothing could faze him now, he’d seen everything there was to see. Particularly, once he’d spotted the milky white beverage the boy was holding in his hands. He was clutching it towards him even more once he spotted the obvious pirate folk ambling towards him and the pretty lady on the other side of the counter – ooooh~. Time to be the most suave he and his crew knew he could be but they denied to their dying breath ( _no he was not ridiculous, that was the beer talking, guys be serious-_ ).

Shanks toned the grin down a bit – there were women and children present! Well, singular, but still! – so as not to scare them off and asked, “Well, hello there! We were just sailing around the islands and thought it was time for a drink… any chance I could get me and my men some good alcohol around here?” he pointed backwards at the pack of silly wolves for good measure.

Polite? Pfeh, he could do polite. But let his crew members be insulted by him, he’d handle that.

( _Not that they hadn’t earned it, what with all the ridiculous rumours they spread concerning him – those stayed within the crew, but still!_ )

It turned out that, yes, they could have alcohol. And yes, they could celebrate Shanks’ birthday there. The party proved spectacular and, when Shanks, a week later, still hadn’t left the island, it was because he was frankly quite appalled at the state of one lonely little boy who direly needed a friend.

Shanks happening to fill the role of said friend was… well, not quite anticipated, no. But he relished in it, and stayed for another month or two, just so he could celebrate Luffy’s birthday together with him. "A month or two" turned into a year, and, well, when the Shanks' birthday rolled around again, he had a certain Anchor to add to the party invitations.

The cake was delicious and the alcohol, woah. Making eyes at the local bartender had gotten him a nice young lady willing to wait for him – something unexpected, really, a deeper kind of connection than he’d thought he could ever form with another person. Oh, it had been worth it, that detour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 21.02.2020: Shanks' birthday's on the 9th of March, not MAY (I did get that wrong at first, sorry!).


	21. Whitebeard

The party had been in the planning stages since more than a year, perhaps even more than half a decade ago. That was what Ace had gotten to know early on in his days on the Moby Dick. The last one hadn’t mattered to him, really, not when he’d still been trying to take the head of the person whose birthday it had been. This time, however, he could take part in the festivities and wholly enjoy them, for he now belonged to the same crew as all of Whitebeard’s sons.

That… was something he was still getting used to. He was a Whitebeard Pirate, now.

Thatch thumped him on the back, startling him out of his thoughts and he looked up at the pompadoured man in askance. “Hey, Ace! Wanna help with the lights? You’ll have that bit of an advantage when it comes to that, so I thought I’d ask you before we went about with sticks again…”

Ace smirked and nodded, letting himself be dragged off to a strategic point on deck from which he could clearly see all of what was going on: there were pirates hanging up decorating lanterns over by the rigging, some were scrubbing the floors ( _whatever they’d done, the poor sods, to make Izo mad – that was his go-to for punishments, Ace had learned_ ), others laughed as they heaved out big barrels, filled most probably with alcohol, judging from the grins on their faces.

“See those lanterns up there? On top? Where they’ve been hung from the second mast?” The chef helpfully pointed in the direction he’d indicated. Ace nodded in confirmation, before he asked, “Want me to light them up?” A grin was all the answer he needed, and Ace pointed his finger at the lanterns, carefully selecting one after the other to fan a flame to life inside.

Absorbed in his work, he barely noticed time passing him by and was surprised when the sun was setting already by the time he’d finished lighting every lantern that had been hung up. Luckily, they’d managed to celebrate on a quiet day, with the weather playing into their hands and the waves lapping gently at the Moby Dick as their ship floated through the sea. Clouds lined the horizon, but none of those looked dangerous from his vantage point, and the navigators would have already said something, should a storm be upon them anytime soon. Grand Line weather, eh?

As it was, the evening was quiet, and the party hadn’t yet started. It wouldn’t until the main person of the event was seated at his throne – the most comfortable seat this time of the Red Line, Haruta had told him jokingly once –, an upholstered red sofa seat made for one giant man.

Whitebeard was… larger than life, Ace supposed. The way he’d taken him in – and Ace was under no illusion that morals had nothing to do with how they’d kidnapped him and expected him to join them – and kept a space open just for him, even though he’d proven his tenaciousness at trying to take their captain’s head for those long three (was it four?) months before he’d made up his mind and joined the crew. Oh, and he was part of the crew now, too, not in any position of power or a captain himself any more. That had taken an even longer amount of time to get used to.

When the door to the Commanders’ hallway opened, Ace was leaning against the railing, looking at the beautiful colours of the sun as it was setting. He didn’t turn around to see the captain make his way to the giant chair or take a seat in it. Instead, Ace closed his eyes and let the slowly changing atmosphere wash over him. More and more pirates joined their captain and the commanders as they each took a seat on deck, anticipating the celebration to come and laughing joyfully already.

Ace turned around and took in the scene. He felt content, even more so when Thatch waved and shouted for him to come join them. Then the cooks brought out the food and drinks and the party started in earnest. Every step, he was reminded about Luffy and their birthday parties back at home.

Truly, he couldn’t have wished for a better family of choice surrounding him when it mattered most.


	22. Ace and the Whitebeards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two more chapters! O_o that went faster than expected... also, since they've been written already days ago, I'll only have to post them. Even better than expected! (except today's, some days I just can't help myself, it seems)

The decision to tell the others had been taken from him the moment he’d joined the crew, though he hadn’t known that then. Ace wasn’t sure what his former crewmates had thought they were doing, but it kinda warmed him to think that they hadn’t forgotten (ah, how could they have? Deuce had thrown a party, after all, once he’d told him back on their ship).

He’d be 19 by the time the first day of the year would be over. But first, they had to celebrate the new year coming along. Thatch had, along with his cooks brigade, declared that a feast had to be had, with candles lighting up the night and a perfect view of the night sky over their heads. Fireworks would be lit up once the clock struck midnight and to ring in the new year a bell would be tolled eighteen times (Izo said that was a tradition of his home country and who was Ace to refuse him his traditions?).

Back in March he’d first met Whitebeard and look where that had gotten him: onto the Moby Dick, to take part in their festivities and celebrations as a member among Whitebeard’s many sons.

Ace was touched, frankly. Particularly, as – once the evening progressed – more and more commanders and pirates came up to him to tell him to have a nice last day of this year and that they couldn’t wait to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. He was humbled by the attention, frankly.

Nigh a year ago, he’d been ready to take on the New World, with the Spades throwing their first birthday party for him. And now here he was, with a new crew, one among many, a simple pirate himself. No longer a captain in his own right, he didn’t expect much in terms of a birthday party, to be honest. What he got was more than that.

Early on in his time as a member of the Whitebeard crew, he’d learned that they celebrated once per month for the normal crew members and only the commanders each got their own birthday party. So, he’d expected to be assigned a date to celebrate his birthday with all the others who’d been born that month, but instead they’d moved the monthly birthday party to the first of January.

“Because you’re our newest member, Ace!” Vista had laughingly explained to him, “Of course we want to make you feel at home with us!”

Oh, that hadn’t prepared him for what was in store. All the stories and the birthday parties he’d experienced with the Whitebeards so far paled in comparison with the New Year’s birthday party.

What greeted him on the first day of the New Year was, well, the sun. Seeing as he hadn’t been able to sleep well (was that anticipation? He felt giddy, in any case), he was up long before the last stragglers went to bed. Some had even stayed up all night, telling him and any commanders who asked that they’d sleep it off in the afternoon. With their attitudes towards duties being fulfilled rather relaxed for the day, the commanders allowed them all a little bit more leeway than normally.

The second thing that made an impression on him was the mighty breakfast Thatch thoughtfully bestowed upon him once he entered the galley. Jovially nodding his head towards anyone else up that early, he’d proceeded to tuck into his food with all the gusto of a starving sailor, never mind the amounts he’d eaten just last night, those were history. When he was done, Thatch led him outside, to a group of people who’d prepared board games that they could play all day. The Moby Dick wasn’t anchored, no, but it was close enough for them to feel not a thing while it was moving through the sea.

That was… what “home” felt like to Ace nowadays – grinning, the teenager thought he might just grow used to the idea. Having fun with his new brothers (the newness hadn’t lost any of its appeal yet, even months later), laughing and throwing confetti at them. They’d become part of his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a dunce who keeps writing the chapters on the date they should be posted, but ah well. At least they're short, this time. This one was written on the 23rd of February 2020.


	23. Sabo and Luffy, Strawhats and Revolutionaries

Inviting Luffy to his birthday party had been the right thing to do. Accommodating the Strawhat crew that came with him? Eh, he’d done worse than spring a bunch of unexpected guests on the Revolutionaries. Fortunately for everyone involved, the party was held on an unregulated island, a neutral sorta space, where the pirates could mingle with the Revolutionaries in peace and no local would rat them out ( _he’d made sure of that before he’d even thought about holding a birthday party again_ ). It helped that the Revolutionary Army had saved the island from pirates nigh a year ago.

Truth be told, Sabo hadn’t felt the need – he’d not really been in the mood, frankly – to hold a party for his own birthday since the return of his memories more than two years ago. A lot had happened in the span of those, hadn’t it? He’d found out about and visited Ace’s grave more than once and Luffy had vanished to who-knew-where ( _for not even the Revolutionary Army had managed to figure out where he’d gone and that had been a horror to keep in mind. Two years of no sign of life from him and Sabo had been about ready to quit his job and head out by himself and start a search_ ).

He’d had two, more than ten years ago, when he’d roped Ace into celebrating a fake birthday with him. He’d had two, during all these years, when he’d convinced the Revolutionaries that he’d like to celebrate the day they’d picked him up a month before his birthday. Nowadays, he had no such thing to call his own, any more, bereft of his brothers as he’d been, he’d refused when they’d asked him if he’d want a cake or presents. There had been a hole in his life and he couldn’t fill it with a celebration. Sabo had been on the verge of drowning in his misery, in his guilt and desperation.

These days, however, one brother had come back into his life. Or, rather, he’d been the one to drag the Revolutionary Army to the place his brother had been headed to last, according to the newspapers, and wasn’t it a mighty coincidence that the Devil Fruit that was the prize of the show had been Ace’s, before? The relief he’d felt upon laying eyes on the strawhatted fool – oh, he loved his brother, but he proved as dim-witted as he’d been as a child, honestly – was palpable.

He hadn’t changed at all.

Sabo had been so glad, so utterly happy, that he’d resolved to come to his brother’s aid should Luffy ask him to at any moment in time, from wherever he was – his job as a Revolutionary be damned.

Inviting Luffy to his birthday party had been a no-brainer, especially considering how he’d been invited to the younger one’s all those months ago when he’d managed to damage the boat he’d engineered beyond repair and had had to stay on the Thousand Sunny until they’d reached the next island ( _no, that hadn’t actually been his plan. Yes, he might’ve overdone it a little, but it was Luffy!_ ).

The party guests this time weren’t as illustrious as the usual ones at his birthday parties. Hack was there, as was Koala. And the Strawhats. Sabo couldn’t afford to call all of the Revolutionaries there simply for his birthday celebration, so he’d taken the next best thing he could get ( _it really was annoying how the World Government was after their hides – them gathering at one place was more dangerous than it was worth it at the moment_ ). And, really, the main guests of honour were the two brothers. Everything and everyone else there were just a bonus.

It was his turn, this time, to bring out the sake and three old red cups. Pouring it, Sabo could feel the smile on his face – it was a real one, a genuine one in the presence of his brother, one of the rarest ones anyone could remember seeing on his face so far – and the breeze alongside the beach where they’d set up camp. His brother’s crew’s antics were fun to watch, even though he’d gotten the feeling that he’d inadvertently let two devils meet, when he glanced back at how well Koala and the crew’s navigator got along. A shiver ran down his spine, before he turned back to Luffy and smiled.


	24. Ace and his family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for: Canonical Character Death. Author is nice, author is innocent, author was playing around and then something like this happened... *is squinting at the mess*

He was dreaming, wasn’t he? One of the last moments of his life, and all he could see was Luffy in front of him, his face contorted painfully, with tears already running down his cheeks. But Ace didn’t want to see that. He didn’t want to think about what pain he’d brought his brother at all. He wanted to think about something joyful, something peaceful that would bring a smile to his face. Ace had already thanked his brother for loving him – and he wanted to think about something nice before his flame went out for good. He wanted to think about his family, one more time.

A huff escaped him at the idea he got in his mind, before he delved straight into it, his life force leaving him slowly but surely as his mind’s eye conjured up an illusion to satisfy his needs. It was an image in his mind, of better times, of days where less worries bothered the three of them. Maybe it was a trick of his imagination, but he’d take the illusion he’d conjured up in his last moments over anything else that he could have thought about.

In his mind’s eye, he could see Sabo and him deciding to go hunting separately that day, employing Mogra to go hunt alligators with Sabo while Ace distracted Luffy on the other side of the jungle.

The alligator caught and lugged down to Makino’s who would then prepare the meat and incorporate it into a modest cake that she’d baked (none of them were ever good at baking, but they’d make do with what they had – and Luffy wanted alligator meat more than the cake, anyways), Sabo helped decorate the bar with colourful flags and candles and crafted and painted party hats from some paper that Makino had managed to find for them, while Ace had a rubbery little brother to keep occupied and unaware of what was going on. Not that that had ever been hard to do. “Aaaaace, are we there yet?” Leading the younger one through a less-frequented part of the jungle, Ace was keeping his annoyance in check by repeatedly reminding himself that it was Luffy’s birthday.

It wouldn’t do to go back to old habits and throw the rubbery boy down a ravine, no it wouldn’t, no matter how much he was trying Ace’s nerves. And, oh, the oldest of the three had nerves of steel by then, he felt, for enduring a torment such as this. “Neee, Aaaaaace! How far? Are we there soon?”

Closing his eyes briefly, the freckled boy hoped to turn out the whining voice by focusing on the other sounds that the jungle had to offer. “Aaaaaaaaaace!!!” No such luck.

A pout had formed prominently on the young face accompanying him by the time he turned around and stomped his foot in aggravation. Gnarling his teeth, he kept his mouth shut until the profanities that had entered his brain ready to be spewed out first passed by his mental landscape.

“We’ll be there soon. Now shut up and keep carrying the fish. You’re dragging it on the floor, this way it’ll be too dirty to cook when we’re there! We’ll need to wash it before!” Standing at attention, the younger of the two picked up the oversized fish they’d caught and hauled it over his head again.

The pout stayed in place. Ace, with his own fish carried above his head, turned back around and headed down to the village. He’d made up a lie about wanting to bring the fish to Makino’s to be prepared properly for once ( _mountain bandits were skilled in the cooking of mammals, but fish?_ ) and Luffy had simply nodded and off they were. In the end, it would have mattered zilch what he’d said.

The surprise on his face, then, once they’d come down and entered the Party Bar to shots of confetti, was satisfying to watch. Luffy’s eyes were glittering and Ace and Sabo could swear there were stars in them ( _they’d gone all out with the decorations this time around – they’d had time to get ready for the birthday and made it count_ ). His eyes when they fell on the cake were shining, with stars in them, drool forming in and leaking out his mouth.

Thatch thumped him on his shoulder, appearing at his elbow with a huge grin on his face. Sabo was saying something to him from the place he was occupying close to Luffy that sounded suspiciously like “Well done” but he couldn’t be sure and when he turned to him again, he saw that Whitebeard was standing a bit crouched in the Party bar that was occupied by more and more people the more he looked. His family was there, all of them – smiling, laughing, the Spades gave him a high five to his right, while Thatch and Izo were two warm presences to his left. Vista was nursing a mug on the far side and oh, the other commanders had gathered as well – one was peering just over Makino’s shoulder to look at the birthday cake that was still more meat than cake.

Luffy’s glittering eyes landed on him, admiring him and looking up to him like he’d done from the start. He never had been able to admit that, but he did like the attention and felt humbled that Luffy had chosen someone like him to follow that day, such a long time ago, against all odds and everything he’d thrown at him, Luffy had persevered. His younger brother.

Overwhelmed, all he really could do was smile in the face of them all and of the joy they brought him. His family was right here and would accompany him wherever he went.

The illusion firmly lodged in his head, Ace’s body fell to the ground, a content smile stuck on his face, one last exhale leaving him before he was gone for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this hopeful? Is this sad? It's both at once somehow... hope you enjoyed this fanfic, dear gents and ladies and everything in-between - and that you don't hate me too much for putting this chapter up.  
> Last chapter in this fic it is~  
> And the longest fanfic in this series, to boot. (at least so far) See the Series that this one is part of for the next 24-day fanfic to be put up and for the Starting Dates. I'll keep you posted also on my profile page should anything change! :)  
> Thank you very much for reading this story, dearest readers - and I hope you enjoyed all these snippets into my personal headcanons for the One Piece world and their birthday celebrations ;) Cheers!


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